Evidence abounds that our water future is bleak

For 25 years, I have watched bureaucrats and politicians dance around the reality of Florida’s natural water supply depletion and degradation.

By Steve Kesterson Sr.Special to the Star-Banner

For 25 years, I have watched bureaucrats and politicians dance around the reality of Florida’s natural water supply depletion and degradation. I have spent hundreds of hours on the Ocklawaha and Silver rivers and the Harris Chain of Lakes, where agricultural nutrient loading and arbitrary water-flow controls did one thing — increased the poor quality of the nine-lake system to the point that Lake Apopka could only support two things: a 90 percent biomass of shad and an algae bloom cycle that seldom allowed more visibility than 1 foot and obliterated sunshine penetration at 2 feet below the surface.As a child, I remember vividly the astounding numbers of fish, including two to three saltwater varieties that Silver Springs and its outflow hosted. I remember the small pond behind our Alachua-area farmhouse that was fed by an artesian well roiling persistently and off-gassing sulphur fumes that made me gag. However, my grandfather thought this place was the Fountain of Youth.Recently, we attended a meeting of the Withlacoochee Area Residents Inc. in Yankeetown to hear a presentation by Dr. Bob Knight, founder and director of the Florida Springs Institute.Armed with facts, logical examination of historic data and common sense, Knight presented an irrefutable analysis of the Floridan Aquifer’s status and the state’s water supply.There are approximately 10,000 springs and/or natural wells across the state. There are 27 springs of first magnitude. Two of these are classic examples of overuse of the aquifer ground-water resource. Silver Springs at one time was the leader in water flow and Rainbow Spring’s outflow, though less in gallons per day, paralleled that of Silver Springs — i.e. when flows increased in Silver, they did likewise with Rainbow Springs. Decreased flows mirrored the same pattern.Today, outflow for Silver Springs has fallen to such a point that Rainbow Springs’ daily outflow actually exceeds Silver Springs’. Water consumption surrounding the Ocala area has reached a point where as water extraction from the aquifer exceeds recharge, natural outflow at the surface continues to fall.In Jacksonville/Duval County, water consumption has lowered the aquifer enough that the greater pressure from the surrounding aquifer system of South Georgia and to the west in the Suwannee River watershed are now flowing east to the Jacksonville area and causing interdicted spring flows and historic low-water levels in the Suwannee River and surrounding area. Ask people in the Big Bend if the quality of their oysters has degraded recently.If you recall, it’s only been in recent years that Tampa Bay began searching desperately for a replacement source for their water supply. They’ve even come to our backyard proposing to pipe our water south from the Withlacoochee.Knight also revealed the awful fact that consumptive-use permits for agriculture, business and residential appear to represent a solid mass on the topographical map of the area from Ocala to the west coast. These permits issued by our water management districts cost the applicants very little in fees, and the millions of dollars in our public water supply that they pump out cost them nothing — into perpetuity.We are ignoring the obvious. We are inviting a natural disaster that knows no scope or limits. If we allow the water management districts and the Florida Legislature to continue with the present water policy, we only have ourselves to blame.